Friday, April 15, 2011
Oldest Readable Writing In Europe Discovered
Marks on a clay tablet fragment found in Greece are the oldest known decipherable text in Europe, a new study says. Considered 'magical or mysterious' in its time, the writing survives only because a trash heap caught fire some 3,500 years ago, according to researchers.
Found in an olive grove in what's now the village of Iklaina in the municipality of Pylos, prefecture of Messenia, the tablet was created by a Greek-speaking Mycenaean scribe between 1450 and 1350 B.C., archaeologists say. The markings on the tablet fragment are early examples of a writing system known as Linear B.
Genes, language, and how we study human pre-history
The Wall Street Journal has a story out today about a study published in the journal Science that claims all modern languages evolved out of the same proto-language—the linguistic version of Out-of-Africa. Meanwhile, the BBC is reporting on a paper published in Nature which suggests features that are shared between languages actually evolved independently, rather than being concepts coded into our brains by biology.
Not sure whether these two sets of results can be easily compared to one another. The studies were aimed at answering very different questions, so you can't just line one up against the other. Depending on your point of view, these results may be contradictory ... but that's not necessarily the case. What is interesting about these two studies is the fact that both are based on research methodologies and theories that were born in the fields of evolutionary biology and genetic anthropology.
For instance, the Wall Street Journal article says:
His research is based on phonemes, distinct units of sound such as vowels, consonants and tones, and an idea borrowed from population genetics known as "the founder effect." That principle holds that when a very small number of individuals break off from a larger population, there is a gradual loss of genetic variation and complexity in the breakaway group. Dr. Atkinson figured that if a similar founder effect could be discerned in phonemes, it would support the idea that modern verbal communication originated on that continent and only then expanded elsewhere.And in the BBC story:
Lead author Michael Dunn, an evolutionary linguist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, said the approach is akin to the study of pea plants by Gregor Mendel, which ultimately led to the idea of heritability of traits. Modern phylogenetics studies look at variations in animals that are known to be related, and from those can work out when specific structures evolved. For their [linguistic] studies, the team studied the characteristics of word order in four language families: Indo-European, Uto-Aztec, Bantu and Austronesian.I'd be curious as to how widespread this interdisciplinary approach is within linguistics, and whether most linguists think it's a reasonable way to study language evolution. One would think, at the very least, that you have to make some adjustments. After all, as the Wall Street Journal article points out, the forces that shape biological evolution work differently from those that shape cultural evolution.
Dr. Atkinson's approach has its limits. Genes change slowly, over many generations, while the diversity of phonemes amid a population group can change rapidly as language evolves. While distance from Africa can explain as much as 85% of the genetic diversity of populations, a similar distance measurement can explain only 19% of the variation in phonemic diversity. Dr. Atkinson said the measure is still statistically significant.Wall Street Journal: The Mother of All Languages
BBC: Language Universality Idea Tested with Biology Method
New 3-D map of Guatemala’s ‘Head of Stone’ confirms size, location of ancient buildings
Archaeologists have made the first three-dimensional topographical map of ancient monumental buildings long buried under centuries of jungle at the Maya site “Head of Stone” in Guatemala.
Stalagmite sculptures
Artist Tofer Chin installed 14 monolithic black stalagmites—"living and breathing souls, ghosts, spirits, voids, shadows"—in Rio de Janeiro's Parque Lage.
The World's Tallest Tree
Redwood National Park in California, is hiding the tallest tree in the world. The tree is called 'Hyperion,' and is 379 feet and 4 inches (115,6 meters) high. Where to exactly find the tree is not known since its discoverers, Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, won't tell. A team of scientists, led by Humboldt State University ecologist Steve Sillett, climbed to the top of the tree and dropped a tape down to the ground.
The rotated picture above is 'Stratosphere Giant, the former tallest tree in the world which can be found in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, also in California. The tree is 369 feet (112 meters) high.
Could Life Survive Inside a Black Hole?
Stable planetary orbits are theorized to exist inside black hole event horizons, sufficiently advanced lifeforms may live there too.
Photos of elderly animals
While we normally think of baby animals as being the principal cuteness emitters of the animal kingdom, photographer Isa Leshko's "Elderly Animals" series reveals the beauty revealed by animals at the end of their lives: "I began the series as a means of exploring my feelings about my mother's decline due to Alzheimer's Disease. As I've worked on this project, though, I've come to realize that these images are a testament to survival and endurance. And they raise questions about what it means to be elderly."
Antarctic Lake Hides Bizarre Ecosystem
Under an ice-covered Antarctic lake, astrobiologists discover otherworldly mounds that tell tales of the planet’s early days.
Dinosaurs That Loved the Nightlife
Flying pterosaurs and other dinosaurs prowled around at night, suggests new research on the shapes of these animals' eyes.
The Lizard and the Koala
A koala was sitting up in a gum tree, smoking a joint.When a little Lizard walked past and looked up and said:
"Hey, Koala! What are you doing?"
The Koala says: "Smoking a joint. Come up and have some."
So the little Lizard climbed up and sat next to the Koala and they burned a few. After awhile, the little Lizard says his mouth was "dry" and he was going to get a drink from the river. But the little Lizard
was so stoned that he leaned too far over and fell into the river.A crocodile saw this and swam over to the little Lizard and helped him to the side. Then he asked the little Lizard, "What's the matter with you?"
The little Lizard explained to the crocodile that he was sitting, smoking a joint with the Koala in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while trying to get a drink.
The crocodile says he has to check this out. He walks into the rain forest, finds the tree where the Koala is sitting, finishing a joint, and he looks up and says, "Hey, you!!"
So the Koala looks down at him and says:"Holy shiiiiiite, dude!! How much water did you drink?"
The Surprising Life of Banana Slugs
Image via video screengrab
Like the redwoods? Then thank a banana slug. I used to think that the University of California, Santa Cruz in California was so weird for choosing the Banana Slug as its mascot. What college student wants to cheer their team on by rooting for big yellow blobs? But after watching this short video on the banana slug, I have a whole new adoration for, and fascination of these odd creatures. Turns out, they're actually surprisingly amazing, and important for keeping redwood forests healthy.
Article continues: The Surprising Life of Banana Slugs (Video)
Animal News
- Maybe it was spring fever that made a 9-foot, 20-year-old alligator make its getaway in south Arkansas.
- A potbellied pet has been put out to pasture, much to the chagrin of its suburban Philadelphia owner.Brian Maguire tells the Philadelphia Daily News he wants police to return the Vietnamese micro potbellied pig they captured when the animal escaped from his suburban yard.
Gorillas in Congo Survive Civil War
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Gorillas in Africa have had a rocky century, with populations suffering from disease outbreaks, habitat loss, and poaching. Thriving trades in charcoal and bushmeat continue to threaten gorillas across the continent but, in some places, civil war and other conflicts makes monitoring and protecting the species nearly impossible.Such has been the case with the Grauer's gorilla subspecies. Trapped in the crossfire of a civil war in Congo, conservationists feared that a census—if and when it could finally be conducted—would reveal a grim result. Now, with new data finally in, these fears have been eased—it seems that the subspecies has survived the latest conflict.
Article continues: Gorillas in Congo Survive Civil War
Budget bill's wildlife rider
A provision that has nothing to do with money allows hunting of an endangered species.
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